Amtrak Seeks New Long-Distance Car Designs

by Jim Mathews / President & CEO

For months now, I got at least one or two emails every day from members or supporters or allies asking me when -- or, sometimes even “if” -- Amtrak was going to release its request for proposals to replace its long-distance Superliner bi-level cars. But this week Amtrak made it official: the RFP is out, the car-builders have already come to some preliminary bidding meetings, and the process really is underway.

It can’t come soon enough. Some of these cars will have more than half-a-century on them by the time their replacements begin to come online, a far cry from what I learned visiting operators a few weeks ago in Europe, who plan a replacement cycle for their fleets every ten to 15 years. It’s long-past time to get this going.

“Following an extensive evaluation, we plan to announce our selected supplier by the end of 2027,” Amtrak said this week as it formally unveiled the new procurement plan and schedule. “This once-in-a-generation fleet replacement program was developed in close coordination with the Federal Railroad Administration, with the goal of modernizing overnight and cross-country travel for a fleet that includes many cars today approaching nearly 50 years of operations.”

Right now, Amtrak expects to buy 800 new loose railcars to deploy across 14 routes. As I told you in February, current schedule projections assume first revenue service entry around 2031, with coach and café fleet replacement extending to about 2034. It’s later than it should be, and it’s later than even the originally delayed schedule with 2030 in-service dates contemplated. But the hope is that by adopting a simpler, more interoperable design, and something closer to service-proven and not fully bespoke, Amtrak and the car-builders will be able to get new cars built more quickly and as a result recover some -- but not all -- of the lost time.

You can read the formal announcement by clicking here. And you can follow this link to a video illustrating some renderings of some of the design concepts Amtrak has already shared with the car-builders.

If you watch the full video, you’ll catch a few notable details: the new “premium” coach entry, fully reclining seats in all classes, as many as eight power outlets in some of the sleeping accommodations, and the new Solo Suite one-person roomette. Solo Suite responds to the reality that a huge share of today’s two-person roomettes are booked by one person (I do it all the time...).

There’s also a beautifully panoramic dining car idea with lots of glass and natural light, and program planners say they know they need to pay special attention to spaces like the sightseer lounge car now that they’ll only have a single-level car shell to work with.

And here I have to repeat something I said in February. Designers told us that the intent is to retain the same range of sleeping accommodations and key product features that were outlined in the previous Superliner replacement effort that went all-in on bilevels. The trade-off is loss of upper-level viewing experience, but with savings and risk reduction from elimination of design complexity and accessibility constraints. Which in turn translates to getting new cars on the road faster.

Conceptually, the premium coach seats and differentiated sleeper products from the bilevel concepts remain possible within the new specification, though final outcomes will obviously depend on bidder proposals and how creatively they can work those features into the single-level car’s smaller physical footprint. Amtrak says their direction to the car-builders is to try to incorporate as much of that as is possible.

But here’s another thing to keep in mind. None of this is baked in yet. Design features and amenities are still being worked up and design trade-offs haven’t even really started yet as the car-builders just begin to adjust their offerings to the new single-level reality.

We’ve already shared some wish-list items with some of the key team members. Things like deep reclines, better padding, lots of outlets, and easier luggage handling and storage (consider how athletic you need to be to hoist a wheelaboard suitcase up into a Viewliner luggage cubby above the sink).

The announcement of the RFP goes well beyond just another long-delayed equipment purchase. Passengers need, want, and deserve modern, safe, reliable railcars. The recovering U.S. passenger-rail industrial base needs, wants, and deserves a reliable and predictable market that can produce acceptable and reasonable returns. Amtrak, state-supported services, and even potential new entrants all need the ability to turn to a robust U.S. car-builder to fulfill their business needs...without waiting a decade or more for new trains. Launching a procurement for 800 new cars helps prime that pump. Let’s go!